A Late Arrival

So this just showed up in the post today. We’ll go over it, fix any apparent infelicities, and then turn on distribution this weekend. It should be on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, etc. by late next week. You can already order it at NDM Express, though, just click on the image.

It’s only 750 pages even though it’s slightly longer than ATOB and the text is exactly the same size. This is because we’ve gotten much better at optimizing our line spaces and margins. So, we will be modifying ATOB to match at some point soon, for those who are obsessive about these things. But the three books all look great together on the shelf regardless.

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They Are Still Lying

Grummz calls out WIRED for lying – again – about #GamerGate:

Wired gets it completely wrong.

Gamergate started because journalists were exposed for trading favorable reviews and coverage in exchange for favors, and for lying about it, as well as the movement.

Ethics in journalism was the banner, and now Wired is perpetuating the lies and smear campaign that started it all.

Just yesterday we had recent example of a game journalist’s corruption, and even just weeks ago with Ubisoft and expensive Disney trips for influences.

The gaslighting that wired is doing here, shows the reasons haven’t changed, and the journalists are still scum.

To this day, the media still knows virtually nothing about #GamerGate. As an OG GamerGater, I do. I was there from the very start ten years ago, before it was even christened #GamerGate. I even know the identity of GamerGater#1, who broke GameJournoPros and exposed the gaming media’s whole ghastly favors-trading game; most people have forgotten that I was once not only a game journalist myself, I was the first professionally syndicated one.

The gaslighting, as Grummz correctly described it, was always an attempt to change the narrative away from the gaming media’s wrongdoings, many of which are things they do openly today that they don’t even bother to hide.

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Susie’s World

CALVIN AND HOBBES has turned out to be a warning about the bureaucratic madness of Clown World.

While the comic seems like a light and cheery look into childhood, there are very dark undertones. Like the main character in “Adventure Time” doesn’t realize he lives in a nuclear wasteland, “Calvin and Hobbes” is set in a world that has no place for a rambunctious boy. There’s an inherent loneliness permeating the comic from the title on, that Calvin only has an imaginary friend who understands what makes him tick. Calvin never comes across a figure that can channel his energies toward finding his way in the world…

Susie Derkins, on the other hand, has the world catered to her sensibilities. She loves school because she loves the accolades she receives from authority figures. Her aspirations, whether they are having kids or being a girl-boss, are catered to and considered mature. Whenever she gets harassed by Calvin, authority figures immediately swoop in to defend her. It’s not her fault the world she was born into gave her more advantages and comfort, and there’s nothing wrong with her taking advantage of it. She’s just in a protective bubble, and has no understanding of what is required to keep her small world turning.

In a way, the comic showed the stark realities of being a young boy trying to find his way. He is surrounded by types like Susie Derkins, who can’t help but be Susie Derkins. The real failure happens in the men who should have been there for him, channeling his energies toward finding a place in the world, and pushing back against the busybodies and scolds who want him to act more like a pliable, conformist little girl.

It’s a good piece, well worth reading for any fan of the comic.

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Defending Freedom in Deutschland

The appeal of the “rights” and “freedoms” being “defended” by the “Democracies” is rapidly vanishing on an almost weekly basis:

The German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) may soon be allowed to secretly enter and search homes, according to a draft reform proposal seen by Der Spiegel and RND. According to the document, police would also have the power to install spyware on suspects’ computers or smartphones, in addition to conducting covert searches of their homes. These powers would supposedly only be used in exceptional circumstances.

The Interior Ministry has defended the initiative, claiming that the BKA plays a central role in countering international terrorism threats. A spokesperson refused to discuss details of the proposal, which is still at a very early stage, but told Der Spiegel on Wednesday that security agencies must have the necessary powers to effectively counter evolving threats.

Critics have voiced concerns that such far-reaching interventions could undermine the rule of law, as the inviolability of the home is enshrined in Article 13 of the German constitution.

You know, I’m really beginning to suspect that this whole Patriot Act thing may not have actually had as much to do with defending Americans and their rights as we were told it did. Clown World is transforming into a twisted parody of itself.

Vee are here to defend your freedomz by spying on you!

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Ineffective Rhetoric

We’re all supposed to be VERY OUTRAGED that the evil Russians would sentence a nice American ballerina who never did nothing to 12 YEARS IN PRISON for one tiny little act of treason.

The Russian-American ballerina accused of committing treason by donating $51.80 to Ukraine’s military has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. Ksenia Karelina was found guilty of ‘high treason’ by a Russian court on Thursday and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment in a general regime colony.

Karelina, who reportedly obtained US citizenship after marrying an American and moving to Los Angeles, was arrested in Yekaterinburg in February. She had returned to Russia to visit her family. It is understood that when she arrived at Koltsovo airport in late January her cell phone was checked using the search word ‘Ukraine’. Law enforcement allegedly found evidence of a bank transfer to a pro-Ukrainian foundation in America.

She was later detained and charged with treason. Karelina pleaded guilty in her closed trial last week, news reports said.

Your first clue something is amiss in the coverage: she’s an “American” named Ksenia. In truth, she’s a Russian national who donated money to the military of a country that is not only at war with Russia, but just literally invaded Russia. That’s about a clear-cut case of treason as you can get, even if the amount of money is small.

Meanwhile, the UK is arresting thousands of His Majesty’s subjects and rapidly sentencing them to prison for the “crime” of protesting the foreign invasion of their country. So while Russia punishes traitors, the UK punishes those who are not traitors.

I doubt they’re going to successfully stoke any anti-Russian outrage in the USA or the UK with this little sally, if the comments at the UK newspaper site are any guide. The best rhetoric points to the truth, it is not shamelessly hypocritical.

  • 3000 people have been sent to prison in the UK for what they have wrote on social media. 200 in Russia.
  • Its already here, prison for reposting tweets, memes, FB comments etc that are critical of Starmers Junta.
  • The UK has the same type of justice. Say anything the authorities don’t like and off to jail with you.

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If You Think That’s Bad

People are, quite rightly, reacting with disbelief and horror to Disney’s attempt to claim that signing up for a Disney+ subscription means that if you die at one of their restaurants at Disney World due to Disney’s negligence, you have agreed not to sue them.

That doesn’t surprise me, given what corporations have been adding to their Terms of Service. To be honest, I wouldn’t even be remotely surprised if Disney also claims the right to sell the organs of anyone who dies at one of their theme parks, or while watching Disney+.

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A Terrible Decision

While Walz was an even worse choice, I don’t doubt that President Trump is regretting his decision to choose JD Vance as his running mate.

Donald Trump is ‘lighting up’ his campaign staffers as he hunkers down at Mar-a-Lago after his ‘terrible’ decision to pick JD Vance as vice president, two former aides have claimed.

The former president’s reported meltdown comes from two staffers who worked in the White House under the former president and have since turned on him, as polls show the race with Kamala Harris is getting tighter by the day.

‘I think that he feels this election slipping away from him, and that’s where you’re beginning to see him spiral,’ Sarah Matthews, a former Trump spokeswoman told MSNBC.

Republicans and top donors are worried about Trump’s flailing strategy as he continues to launch vicious personal attacks on Harris and obsess over her personality instead of core policy issues such as the border, the economy and crime.

‘He picked Vance – he knows Vance was a terrible, terrible pick,’ Scaramucci said on the podcast The Rest is Politics.  ‘He’s lighting people up inside his campaign right now about picking Vance.’

Vance was a bad pick, regardless of what the political people said. SSH trumps all political considerations, and from the moment that I saw his fat face and fearful eyes, I knew that Vance was going to neither command admiration from men or attraction from women. This isn’t any ex post facto rationalization; I identified Vance as a probable Gamma from the get-go.

One area where Alphas regularly and reliably fail is the matter of succession. Usually, they fail by selecting a faithful Bravo to succeed them, in the hopes that their long mutual association will have resulted in the Bravo somehow picking up some of the Alpha’s vision and leadership abilities.

This never works. Bravos are not, and never will be, Alphas. The very skill set that makes them so compatible with Alphas, and so helpful to them, renders them incapable when forced to take the Alpha’s role at the top of the hierarchy. But Donald Trump, a definite Alpha, didn’t make the usual mistake in selecting his next Vice-President.

As it happens, he may actually have made a much worse one, at least in socio-sexual terms.

Throw in the fact that he’s a ticket-taker, and it’s such an obviously suboptimal selection as a running mate that it almost makes it look as if Trump is seeking to throw the election. Which assumes, of course, that the votes are even going to be counted with some semblance of accuracy.

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Whatever Happened to Huddled Masses?

The Border Patrol and the FBI denies a German economist entry to the USA:

An economist affiliated with Germany’s conservative Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was detained and interrogated for over 10 hours at a Chicago airport. His phone was seized by authorities allegedly for an offensive meme.

Jurij Christopher Kofner arrived at the Chicago airport on Sunday, July 20, following a 12-hour flight from his hometown of Munich, Bavaria, after which he was immediately detainedby the United States Border Patrol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Kofner, a self-described “ordoliberal” – a German variant of classical liberalism – was set to attend a weeklong seminar in Springfield, Illinois on “Classical Liberalism and Business” at the University of Illinois, Springfield, organized by the American Institute of Economic Research and the Academy on Capitalism.

Following the conclusion of Kofner’s 10-hour ordeal – during which he noted he was subjected to “random questioning” – he was ultimately refused entry into the United States. Furthermore, his phone was confiscated by authorities for allegedly containing an offending meme. His laptop was also confiscated and subjected to an electronic search, but was later sent back to his home in Munich. His phone remains in U.S. custody “for further analysis.”

The meme in question featured President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as soldiers on D-Day with the caption, in German: “Warmongers in the front row, as it should be.”

Meanwhile, Prince Harry openly confesses to doing illegal drugs and the door is held wide open for him, to say nothing of the tens of millions of migrants whose illegal entry is being facilitated. It’s clear that there hasn’t been any rule of law operative in the States for decades.

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